An actuating device is known according to DE 1 183 204 A. It includes a drive element, a toothed rack, a gear element, and an actuating element. The drive element includes a cylinder and a piston with a piston rod. The toothed rack is provided outside the cylinder on the piston rod. The toothed rack cooperates with a gear element. An actuating element, pivotable in relation to the drive element is situated in a rotationally-fixed manner with the gear element. In this solution, “cooperating” is to be understood to mean that the gear element and the toothed rack are directly connected to one another another, during movement of the piston or the piston rod. The actuating element is implemented as a pivot lever of a foundry molding machine in this solution.